Satavahana dynasty: A Visual History

The Satavahanas (Andhras) ruled the Deccan from about 100 BC (or earlier by some reckonings) to about 220 AD, from capitals at Pratishthana (Paithan) and Amaravati. Emerging as the Mauryas declined, they controlled the routes between the Arabian Sea ports and the eastern coast, issued lead and silver coins, and were the first rulers to inscribe in Prakrit at length. Gautamiputra Satakarni (about 106-130) crushed the Western Satraps; his successors lost ground to them again. The dynasty broke up into successor states such as the Ikshvakus and Vakatakas.

When it existed: the era ribbon

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Satavahana territory

Timeline of the Satavahana dynasty

1. 100 BC
   Satavahana rule established
2. 70 BC
   Satakarni IHorse sacrifices; Nanaghat inscription.
3. 100
   Nahapana overruns the north Deccan
4. 125
   Gautamiputra defeats the Sakas
5. 150
   Rudradaman defeats the Satavahanas
6. 170
   Yajna Sri Satakarni
7. 220
   Dynasty ends

Origins

The Puranas call them Andhras and give them 30 kings and 450 years, but inscriptions and coins put the dynasty's securely attested rise around the first century BC in Maharashtra. Satakarni I performed Vedic horse sacrifices; the Nanaghat inscription of his queen Naganika is one of the earliest Sanskrit-Prakrit records. The Satavahanas were Brahmins by tradition but great patrons of Buddhism, cutting cave monasteries at Karla, Nasik and Kanheri.

Gautamiputra and the Sakas

The Saka Western Satraps under Nahapana overran the northern Deccan around 100 AD. Gautamiputra Satakarni destroyed them, restruck Nahapana's coins with his own name, and his mother's Nasik inscription calls him 'destroyer of the Sakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas'. Trade with Rome through Bharuch, Sopara and Kalyan brought gold; Roman coins and amphorae are found across the Deccan.

Decline

Vashishtiputra Pulumavi lost the north-west to Rudradaman I around 150 despite a marriage alliance. Yajna Sri Satakarni (about 170-199) restored power and issued ship-coins reflecting maritime trade. After him the dynasty split; by 220 the Ikshvakus ruled Andhra, the Abhiras Maharashtra, and later the Vakatakas rose in the Deccan. The Amaravati stupa's marble reliefs, among the finest of Indian art, were largely carved under the later Satavahanas.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Maurya Empire (322 BC to 185 BC)
• Eastern Maurya kingdom (232 BC to 185 BC)
• Western Satraps (35 to 415)
• Indo-Scythian Kingdom (150 BC to 400)
• Kushan Empire (30 to 375)
• Gupta Empire (320 to 550)
• Roman Empire (27 BC to 476)

8 surprising things about the Satavahana dynasty

1. Satavahana kings used their mothers' names, as in Gautamiputra ('son of Gautami'), one of the few Indian dynasties with matronymics.
2. The Karla caves' chaitya hall, cut around 120 AD, is the largest rock-cut Buddhist prayer hall in India.
3. Yajna Sri Satakarni's coins showing two-masted ships are the earliest depictions of Indian ocean-going vessels.
4. The Amaravati marbles were shipped to the British Museum in the nineteenth century, where a gallery is devoted to them.
5. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes Satavahana ports and their pepper, ivory and cotton exports.
6. Gautamiputra's mother's inscription boasts he was 'the only Brahmin' who humbled the kshatriyas' pride.
7. The Satavahanas were the first Indian dynasty to issue portrait coins with the ruler's head.
8. Hala, a Satavahana king, is credited with compiling the Gaha Sattasai, 700 Prakrit love poems.

Sources

• Satavahana dynasty Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Satavahana dynasty Wikipedia
• Satavahana Dynasty World History Encyclopedia
• Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India (2008) Pearson

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